Alcoholism

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
London, U.K. August 26, 1997
(Originally in English)

Q: What causes the problem of alcoholism? What causes it to arise in the alcoholic's spirit?

M: There are many causes. First of all, a lot of people are weak and they cannot resist the temptation to run away from problems. Instead of facing their problems, they run away. People run away from problems in different ways. Some people choose alcohol; some people choose to literally run away from the scene of the problem, or from the person that they think is causing them problems or embarrassment. Instead of solving problems by talking with each other, they run away. They use any excuse, or go to another house, visit other friends, or do anything to run away instead of talking. Or instead of making the person understand why he or she is angry, they just run away.

And other people cannot talk and cannot run away because they have no chance, no choice, or are too lazy to run away, and then they consume alcohol. Running away in the mind, pretending to be deaf and dumb to the world, they make a mess of themselves. And then they make themselves worse, so people don't even bother with them or talk to them, and they just pretend to be dead. This is a way of running away from problems. These people are weak. That's all. This is a sign of weakness.

Because we are all God's children, we are used to heavenly bliss over there in heaven, and when we come here, nothing is to our liking. Everything is so terrible; everything is so hard on us. And then when we have a few more problems, we can't bear it any more and we try to run away. We try to recover the peace that we once had in heaven and so we use all kinds of substitutes in order to shut out the problem. That's alcoholism. And then they turn to alcohol, drugs, women, gambling, or whatever. And sometimes if they are weak, bad spirits, ghosts, also possess them and make them drink. If they don't believe in God too much or if they're too prone to negative, dark thinking too much, then they will attract the dark elements.

When I talk about spirits, it doesn't necessarily mean ghosts. There are bad elements everywhere, as well as good elements. If we clean ourselves and become good, and our energy is good, then we attract more good energy, more positive elements and they surround us everywhere. And if we are bad or dark, then we attract more dark elements in the atmosphere of the surroundings. Do you know where the dark elements come from, and where the good elements come from? - From human society. When people think badly, they create the dark elements, dark energy, and woe to us if we become dark and susceptible to this kind of dark element; we say that we are possessed by bad spirits.

If we are cleansed and pure, and we raise our thinking and spirit to a noble level, then we attract more noble energy, noble elements, from a noble group of people whose thoughts are noble and elegant and beautiful. Then we attract that. So, say, if the people who are dark, who give in to the pressures of life and want to run away, don't elevate themselves, then they will attract this kind of bad energy from people who generate bad thoughts. Everything we think and say generates energy, and it hangs around in the air everywhere. And whoever belongs to that group catches that kind of thing.

So, with the people who are alcoholics, sometimes it is like that. Or gambling addicts, they are like that. But don't blame the spirits for anything. Blame yourselves. We have to choose. That's why I say, "Choose your lifestyle." You have to choose whatever you want to be. You have to choose it with all your might or else you are weakened. And then all the bad energy will overpower you, and you can't get up anymore. Once you are down, it's difficult to get up. Choose your way of life. The way you have chosen is good already, so just continue to make it better and better. Then you will just attract better and better energy. That's why your life has started to become better. It's not due to me; it's due to you. You've chosen a better way of life. You chose to walk in the sun, so you see the sun. If you choose to stay in a dark room, you will see darkness. It's all your doing. I am not doing anything.

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